


Power Differentials

by laxit21



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Author is Bitter, Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe), Not super nice to Barry, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths Crossover Event (CW DC TV Universe), Spectre Oliver, Spectre!Oliver
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:34:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 16,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22260379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laxit21/pseuds/laxit21
Summary: Oliver Queen merged with the Spectre in order to become something else to defeat the Anti-Monitor and save all of existence. Once the dust settles following the Crisis, the new power dynamic in the Arrowverse is a little hard for some people to adjust to.(Written after Crisis Hour 3, but before Hour 4, so this is probably AU because I'm sure Crisis isn't gonna end like this)
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West (mentioned), Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, Sara Lance & Felicity Smoak
Comments: 101
Kudos: 190





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how Crisis is gonna work out/end, but here's what popped into my head when the thought "Oliver's basically a god now" occurred to me. 
> 
> Basically, Oliver finally getting the respect he deserves. And Barry (and others) learning what its like to not be the one with the most power.

It was over very quickly. For a battle that determined the fate of the world, the fate of the entire multiverse, the majority of the seven paragons expected the fight to last longer. In the end, the Anti-Monitor was defeated rather easily. One moment he was squaring up to fight Oliver, the next moment he was a burnt corpse on the ground. His army of shadow demons ceased to exist the moment he fell.

A moment after that, the seven paragons were on the Waverider, looking out at the earth, which had been restored. All eyes turned to Oliver, who looked at them impassively with his glowing green eyes.

“How-? You died, how are you-?” Kara started to ask, but wasn’t able to find the words.

“In dying, Mr. Queen was given the chance to become something else.” The Monitor explained.

“What is he now, an alien?” Lex Luthor asked. “Cause we didn’t need any more of those.” He shot a dirty look to Kara.

“Something infinitely more powerful than I am.” The Monitor answered. “The closest word your language has to what he is would be “god”.”

Oliver hadn’t spoken the whole time and vanished while Novu was speaking. He had become the Spectre in order to defeat the Anti-Monitor and save all of existence. His work was now done and it was time for him to go. He couldn’t stay here.

He stopped in Bloomfield before leaving this plane. He felt that he owed that much to Felicity, she should at least know the truth of what happened. He told everything, from Mia and William arriving from the future, to his death fighting to save Earth 38 to becoming the Spectre. By the time his tale was over, she understood why he was going to stay dead as far as anyone knew. Why it would be years before they could be reunited. Knowing that there was more at stake than just their family, Felicity said goodbye once again, this time hopeful due to the fact that she knew she would see Oliver again.

The seven paragons struggled to adjust to the new universe they found themselves in. The multiverse had been whittled down to one universe, Earths merged together and only the seven of them remembered what used to be. Or much about the Crisis. The paragons all struggled to find their footing, none moreso than Barry.

He had survived the Crisis, despite Novu claiming he wouldn’t. Everything had been set right, but it felt like something was missing, Or rather, someone. His daughter Nora. One night, after Iris had fallen asleep, Barry found himself restless. Suddenly, he remembered something the Monitor had said before he sent everyone home.

“Mr. Queen has become something else….something more powerful than I am….the closest word you have is “a god”.” That’s what Novu had claimed.

Barry suddenly had an idea. It took him weeks to find Oliver. No matter where he searched or who he asked for help, he couldn’t find Oliver anywhere on Earth. In the end, Oliver found him. One moment, Barry was in the Speed Lab, the next he found himself in a spacious kitchen. The former Green Arrow was standing on the other side of a marble counter.

“I understand you’ve been looking for me.”

“Where am I?”

“That’s not important right now.” Oliver answered. “You wanted to see me, I’d like to know why.”

Barry launched into his story. He told Oliver everything about Nora. Where and when she’d come from, her time in Central City between late 2017 and mid-2019. The chain of events that led to her being erased from existence. He told Oliver everything he could think of, anything that might be important, before telling Oliver why he was here. He wanted Oliver to use his nearly unlimited powers to un-erase her from existence.

“-so you’ll do it, right?” Barry ended his speech.

“No, I’m afraid not.”

“Wha-? The Monitor said you’re basically a god. And you’re saying you can’t do it?” The speedster said.

“I never said I couldn’t do it. I’m simply refusing to.” He answered.

Oliver had become very different since becoming the Spectre. He’d never been the most expressive person, but now his tone was too formal, almost cold. Barry also found it unsettling looking into his friend’s glowing green eyes.

“You’ve told me what I should change. When and where the changes could happen. I’m sure you could even tell me how you’d like Nora to continue to exist without altering the events that happened afterwards.” Oliver continued. “The question you haven’t answered yet is why. You haven’t given me a single reason why I should do this for you.”

“I- she’s my daughter. If it was Mia-.”

As soon as Barry mentioned Mia, he lost any chance of convincing Oliver of anything. Mia, who would grow up without her father because he couldn’t reside in the Earthly dimension for very long. Mia, who currently was a toddler being raised alone by Felicity in the Bloomfield cabin because no one could know of her existence. Barry’s comment made Oliver think of Felicity, his soulmate, who he wouldn’t see for decades, not until she had fulfilled her destiny as he had his. Only Oliver, given omnipotence, could see the endgame of all of this. Why things needed to be this way, why Oliver Queen needed to be dead as far as the world knew, why this was always the way things were going to end.

“I’m just saying that if you or Felicity came to me-.” Barry continued.

He should’ve stopped talking since, as far as Barry knew, Felicity thought Oliver was dead. The paragons collectively agreed to tell her that he was killed in the fight and his body couldn’t be recovered. She was heartbroken and grieving, as far as he knew.

“The answer is no, Barry. And it’s final.” Oliver said, staring straight into his eyes. Into his soul. He found himself getting angry that Barry wanted him to use his position as the Spirit of Vengeance, the literal embodiment of God’s wrath, to bring back a single person who had caused Crisis to happen even earlier.

Barry blinked and found himself back in the Speed Lab. After everything he’d done for Oliver, how could he say “no” now?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief Olicity interlude post-Crisis. Oliver shows off his little piece of the universe.

Felicity sighed as she laid down in bed, the bed that felt so empty without Oliver in it. Mia was finally at the age where she was sleeping through the night, so Felicity would be getting a full night’s sleep for the first time in a long time. If she managed to fall asleep that is, because ever since Crisis, ever since Oliver paid her a visit, sleep seemed further away than ever. Still, Felicity laid down and closed her eyes, hoping some rest would come.

She had only closed her eyes for a few seconds when she felt someone move her hair out of her face. She slowly opened her eyes and saw someone looking down at her.

“Oliver?” She asked, sitting up suddenly. She wasn’t in the cabin anymore. “I- where am I?”

“My own little slice of the universe.” He said. “Look familiar?”

The shock of seeing Oliver kept her from recognizing the room she was in. “Is this- this is Ivy Town.”

“When I started creating this place, my home now that I can no longer permanently reside on Earth, I wanted to model it after somewhere that I felt happy. So, I made our house in Ivy Town.” He said. “I almost modeled it after the cabin, but I was worried it might make it confusing for you.”

“What do you mean? How am I here?” She asked. She was excited, so happy to see Oliver again, but Felicity Smoak wouldn’t be Felicity Smoak if she didn’t ask questions.

“You’re asleep and I’m…..using my vast cosmic powers to visit you in your dreams. Or maybe I brought your consciousness onto this plane. You were always the one better at explaining than I was.” He said. “Bottom line, I needed to see you. A bit selfish of me, but-.” Oliver was the Spectre now, he was an immensely powerful being, and he missed his wife. All he wanted to do was see his family, so he bent the rules a little bit.

On instinct, Felicity reached her hand out to touch Oliver’s cheek. She was a little surprised that she was able to actually touch him, but wasn’t going to complain. “After everything you did, everything you sacrificed, you’re allowed to be a little selfish.”

“I’ve missed you so much.” He said.

“Me too.” She admitted. “I don’t- it hasn’t even been more than a few months, but I- I don’t know how I’m supposed to get through the next two decades. And you, you’re here, all alone and-.”

“I waited twenty-seven years to meet you, and another six before I could truly be with you. I can wait, and Mia needs you.” He said.

“She’s….she’s growing so fast. I wish you could be there to see it.”

“I can see it, and I’ve been watching over her. Even if you can’t see me, I’m always there.” One of the perks of Oliver being basically a god was that he could see everything. Mia might not grow up with her father, but he wouldn’t miss getting to watch her learn and grow. “And believe me, she’s going to be amazing.”

“Of course she is.” Felicity said defensively. “Look at who her parents are.”

They stayed like that for a while. Holding one another, enjoying being able to be together, even if this wasn’t entirely real and Felicity would eventually need to wake up. In this moment, Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak were the only people in the entire universe.

“I’m sorry.” He said after a long moment. “I wanted to come back home. I tried- I did everything I could, tried every option I could think of and I couldn’t-.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, its not.” He said. “I have nearly unlimited power, I’m practically a god, I could do anything, except be with my family. I’m the second most powerful being in existence and I can’t do the one thing I want to do.”

Felicity wanted to reassure him, but couldn’t find the words. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, she heard a distant cry.

“Is that-?”

“It’s Mia. She’s awake.” He said, sadly. “It’s time to wake up, Felicity.”

“Will I- I’ll see you soon, won’t I?” She asked. She knew she needed to go, that she needed to take care of Mia, but at the same time, she didn’t want to. She wanted to stay here with Oliver, even just for a little bit longer.

“I’m never too far away, even if you can’t see me.” He said, leaning down to kiss her.

Felicity closed her eyes and when she opened them, she was back in the cabin. She let out a deep sigh before getting out of bed to check on her daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Suggestions?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity sees Oliver again and gets a surprise visitor who has a confession to make.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first part of this chapter was inspired by icannotbelieveiamhere, who I'd like to thank for giving me the idea.
> 
> The second part is the result of me rewatching the last two hours of Crisis and deciding something was missing.

The more time that passed after Felicity “visited” Oliver in his little corner of the universe, as he called it, the more she was convinced it was a dream. A very nice dream, but a dream nonetheless. It hadn’t happened again since that night, and the longer she thought about it, the less sense the situation made. Why was that the only night that had happened? Why would Oliver’s slice of paradise be Ivy Town and not somewhere in Star City? She wanted it to be real, make no mistake, but she wasn’t able to convince herself that it really had happened.

The same night that Felicity finally accepted that it was most likely just a dream, she laid down to sleep. When she opened her eyes, she was back in Oliver’s dreamworld. This time, instead of being in the bedroom in Ivy Town, she was standing in the kitchen where she’d tried, and failed several times, to cook for Oliver.

“Great, I’m dreaming again. Or hallucinating.”

“This isn’t a dream.” He said. “I don’t know quite how to explain what it is, but I’m real, you’re real. We’re both really here. It’s the middle ground, between me coming to Earth and you coming here and being stuck here.”

“You say I’m here, but when I open my eyes, I’m gonna be back in the cabin and the only thing I’ll have to show after this conversation is the memory of it happening, which could also be explained as a very vivid dream.” She pointed out. “I miss you, I like seeing you, but if this isn’t even real, I-.”

“If you wanted a keepsake, you only need to ask.” Oliver reached out and held one of her hands. With his other hand, he pulled a flower out of the vase on the counter. Felicity watched in awe as the white flower’s petals fell off and new petals, some red, the rest green, began sprouting out of the stem. He held it out to her when the flower was fully bloomed once again.

“How- this is the same shade of green as your suit.” She said, her brain refusing to work beyond that. She took the rose and studied it.

“And the same shade of red as your favorite lipstick.” He said. “It’s a symbol of us.”

“Oliver Queen, the Spectre. Using his godlike powers to give his wife flowers.”

“Well, you did tell me that I should get you flowers more often.” He said.

“It’s beautiful.” She said. “What do- what do you do here anyway? Because last time, you told me you were the embodiment of God’s vengeance, but it doesn’t seem like you’re doing much of that recently.”

“I do that when I’m needed. At the moment, that’s not what the multiverse needs from me.” He answered. “I build a little more of this place everyday, expanding my powers. And I watch. I watch you, I watch Mia, and William. I watch our friends and teammates. I try and make sure what happened during Crisis can’t ever happen again.”

“So, you spend all of your time here just….watching other people. That sounds lonely.”

“It’s not all I do.” He assured her. “But its my favorite part. The best part.”

“I wish I could stay here with you, I wish you didn’t have to be alone.” She said.

“One day, you will. When I left, you swore you would find me again. And if my life has taught me anything, its that Felicity Smoak does not fail.” He said.

They talked for a little while longer before their time together ended. Oliver kissed Felicity goodbye and when she opened her eyes, she was back at the cabin. She was holding the red and green rose Oliver had created in her hand. The rose from her dream was in her hand. It had been real.

Felicity spent the next several days incredibly giddy, happy that it hadn’t been a dream or a hallucination. She was still walking on air when she received a knock at the door. She opened it to find Sara on the other side.

“Hey, it’s been….a while.” Sara said. No one had seen Felicity since the funeral, and while Sara had reached out to her, she didn’t get much response back. “I was in the neighborhood.”

“I don’t know how you made it as an assassin when you can’t seem to lie very well.” Felicity said with a smirk. “If you wanted to visit, you can just say so. Come in, Mia’s asleep.”

Sara walked into the cabin and sat down at the breakfast bar. Felicity asked her friend how the Legends were doing, if they’d had any crazy adventures lately, if they’d met anyone famous. She gave vague answers, seeming to be battling with herself over something.

“There’s something I need to tell you.” She blurted out. “It’s about Oliver.”

“Okay.” Felicity said, taking a seat.

“It’s about Crisis and how he died.” She said. “After it was over, those of us who remembered what happened, we agreed not to- we decided it was better if everyone believed he died during the fight. He- Oliver’s alive Felicity.” She knew the paragons had agreed to do things this way, but it felt wrong. It felt so wrong to let Oliver’s wife and daughter go on believing he was dead.

“I know.”

“He died, but then came back as something else and- did you just say “I know”?” She asked. “How-?”

“Before he left to go to….whatever plane or pocket universe he resides in now, he came here and he told me everything.” Felicity said with a shrug. “And to be fair, if he hadn’t, I still wouldn’t have believed he died.”

“Why not?”

“You guys told me Oliver was dead, but couldn’t show me a body. Do you want me to list all of the people we thought were dead, despite not seeing the body, who turned up alive later? Oliver on the Gambit, you, Malcolm Merlyn, Slade, Oliver again, the list goes on.” She said.

“J’onn didn’t- at the funeral, he said you believed us, the story we told you.”

“I tricked the guy who can read minds? Maybe I should’ve been an actress.” She joked. “Thank you, for coming clean. Even though I already knew. Can you tell me why the paragons didn’t wanna tell me?” It was a question she didn’t have an answer to, even months later, and she wanted to know.

“I wanted it, but they thought…..since he can’t stay on Earth, they thought it was just easier this way. Oliver “died”, he can’t come back and if you knew he was alive, it would be too cruel.”

“It’s not.” She said. “I still see him sometimes, in my dreams. Well, we don’t know what they are but-.” She brushed her finger against a red and green rose that was by itself in a vase. “He made me this, you know.”

Sara chuckled. “Only Oliver Queen would use his powers to make his wife pretty flowers.”

They talked for a little while longer before Sara got a call from Ava and needed to leave. The pair said their goodbyes and Felicity told her to come back whenever she felt like it.

“Don’t tell the other paragons that I know.” Felicity asked. “I just- I want it to be my little secret.”

“My lips are sealed.” Sara vowed. “Tell Mia her Auntie Sara says hi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts? Prompts?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After his conversation with Oliver, Barry pays someone a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last two chapters were nice, back to the regularly scheduled Barry Allen nonsense

Barry couldn’t believe Oliver’s nerve. They had been friends, and allies, for years. After all the battles they’d fought to together, all of the bad guys they defeated, the speedster was shocked that Oliver refused to bring back Nora. If bringing her back was beyond Oliver’s abilities, he would’ve understood, but that wasn’t the case. He was able to do it, but didn’t want to. Barry sat in the Speed Lab, furious but unsure of what to do about it.

On a separate plane of existence, Oliver watched Barry react to his refusal. While the archer would’ve preferred to spend some more time watching Mia play, he knew he couldn’t leave the speedster to his own devices. If the past was any indication, Barry made bad decisions when there was no one around to ask him what he thought he was doing. He watched Barry process the answer he received before the Flash stood up and sped out of the room.

One of the perks of Oliver’s new powers was that his brain wasn’t limited by human perception anymore. He could see everything at once, including Barry as he sped out of Central City. it didn’t take Oliver long to realize where he was headed.

“Please don’t.” He said to no one in particular. He didn’t know what Barry thought would happen, but he knew he wouldn’t be getting what he wanted in either case.

Barry raced from Central City to Bloomfield, to the cabin where Felicity lived with Mia. He tried to race towards the front door, but found himself being thrown back and tumbling down the stairs leading to the door. He stood up, brushed himself off and tried again. He was thrown backwards, again, and fell down the steps, again.

“What the hell?” He asked.

“I was about to ask the same thing.” Felicity called from the window. “Sorry, part of the security system protects the house from metas. You should’ve told me you were coming.” She walked over to the security panel and shut off the dampener. Once the control panel was hidden once again, she opened the door and let Barry inside.

“Sorry to just show up.” He said. “I should’ve called.”

“Maybe, but since you’re already here….what’s up?” She asked. She wondered if, like Sara, Barry had changed his mind about lying to her.

“Where’s Mia?”

“At one of the neighbor’s houses. She has a playdate.” She said. “Something wrong?”

He sighed. “Did I- I never told you about Nora, did I?”

“Your mother? Yes, you’ve told me about her.”

“No, not my mother. My daughter.” He said. “She is- was a speedster, like me.”

“You have a kid? And you didn’t tell anyone?” She asked. “I mean, I know I can’t really throw stones at that particular glass house, but- I thought I would’ve found out that Iris was pregnant.”

“She wasn’t.” He said. “Nora is, was from the future. She traveled back in time last year to help us defeat a future villain of mine, one case that went unsolved even in her time, and we stopped Cicada, by destroying the weapon that gave them their abilities.”

“Okay…”

“Because we destroyed Cicada’s weapon, we altered the chain of events that led to Nora’s birth. She- she was erased from existence.” He said. He was smart enough not to mention the fact that Nora being erased also meant that Crisis happened in 2019 as opposed to 2024.

“That’s terrible, but I don’t know why you ran all the way here to tell me about her.”

“After Crisis, I was hoping- I guess I somehow thought, when everything got sorted out, she could come back.” He said. “She didn’t, but I asked Oliver and-.” He trailed off. Felicity thought Oliver was dead, and he almost spilled the beans that he wasn’t.

Felicity studied Barry while he was talking and spoke when he trailed off. “You know, you don’t strike me as the religious type, but I guess people can surprise you.”

“What do- “religious type” I don’t follow.”

“You just said you asked Oliver for help after Crisis, the crisis he died during. So, if you asked him, isn’t that kinda like praying or appealing to your ancestors or something?” She pointed out. “He’s- he’s gone, hopefully he’s somewhere nice, but I don’t think he can help you with this Barry.”

As Barry listened to Felicity, he realized he had a choice here. He could explain to her what had really happened, tell her that Oliver wasn’t dead, and was just refusing his request. Or, he could pretend like he’d meant “I asked Oliver” in the way she was interpreting it.

“I guess I thought…..Oliver survived on that island, alone, for five years. Kinda hard to convince myself that he’s really gone. Or that he somehow can’t pull some strings up there for me.”

“What if he doesn’t have to?” Felicity suggested. “After all, if Cicada was stopped in 2019, she didn’t have a reason to come back from the future. She could be alive and happy in the future for all we know.”

“Uh. I guess I didn’t think about that.” He admitted. “Thank you. Sorry I crashed your day.”

“Well, at least some things don’t change.” She remarked.

Barry left the house and sped off. Felicity was probably right. Nora wasn’t here because he was there with her in the future and he never disappeared. Everything was going to be fine.

Felicity watched Barry leave. She was a little annoyed that she’d given him an opening to come clean, but he didn’t take the chance. Why wouldn’t he tell her the truth? He clearly had a reason, but she couldn’t think of what it was.

Oliver watched Barry and Felicity’s conversation in his dreamworld. “She’s not. Nora West-Allen does not exist, in any timeline.” He said. “I wish I could say I’m sorry, but you did tell my wife I’m dead.”

Barry slowed down as he reached Star Labs. He was a few yards away from the door when a storm cloud appeared right over his head and a bolt of lightning struck him. As soon as it appeared, the cloud dissipated.

Cisco was walking into the building at the same time and saw Barry get struck. “That was really weird.”

“Yeah, it definitely was.” He said.

“That was for lying to my wife.” Oliver said with a slight smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions?


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry has some performance issues, Felicity tries to understand his actions and the speedster gives someone a suggestion that could be a big mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in denial about Arrow's finale being tonight, so I wrote this.

After Barry returned to Central City, he started thinking about his trip to Bloomfield. In hindsight, he really had no idea why he’d gone to see Felicity in the first place. While he wanted Nora back, there wasn’t anything Felicity could do to bring her back. On top of that, he’d almost spilled the beans about Oliver being alive, just somewhere else. The last thing anyone needed, with all the changes Crisis had caused, was for Felicity to be running around trying to get Oliver back. No, it was better for her to believe he died saving the multiverse.

Barry had been struck by lightning, again, but this time, he wasn’t able to shake the experience off so easily. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say that somehow, the bolt wasn’t like the one that gave him his powers. He felt different, but couldn’t exactly pinpoint why.

Felicity watched Barry speed off and turned the metahuman dampener back on. Everything she did, she did to protect William and Mia. Even if some of the security measures made people uncomfortable. Yes, Barry was a metahuman, but there were also a number of dangerous metahumans who might want to hurt the Green Arrow’s family. Not to mention that the Ninth Circle was still out there.

A part of Felicity felt a little bit happy when she saw Barry get thrown back by the forcefield twice. Perhaps it was some bitterness because Barry got to go home to Iris and Oliver didn’t. Or maybe she was only happy in hindsight, when Barry had the perfect moment to tell her about Oliver, but chose to run away instead. Or, most likely, it was because Barry came to her house, the house of a grieving widow, to tell her about the “death” of a child who hadn’t even been conceived yet and could still be born. His actions felt very selfish to her, so she couldn’t bring herself to feel bad about his current situation.

Felicity enjoyed the temporarily quiet house after Barry left. With a toddler around, quiet moments were few and far between. She sat there sipping her coffee until she heard the front door open and someone walk in.

“Oh, you didn’t need to stop and pick Mia up.” She said.

“I was walking past Mrs. Carver’s house anyway.” William said, handing Felicity his sister. “Speaking of Mrs. Carver, she wanted to make sure everything was okay? I guess when you dropped Mia off, you seemed a bit distracted.”

“It was- I had a feeling we were gonna have a visitor and I didn’t want Mia to be here if things didn’t go well.” She said. She almost said “it was nothing” but knew she shouldn’t lie to Will.

“Is something wrong? Are we in danger?”

“No, not at all.” She assured him. “Barry stopped by, and I didn’t want Mia to have to hear Mommy’s loud voice if he was being a doo-doo head.”

“Fair enough. Why did he visit?”

“I think he just needed to talk to someone. I don’t know why he came here when he has friends and his wife in Central City though.” She said with a shrug. Mia started to close her eyes. “Oh, I think someone got home just in time for a nap. I’m gonna go put her down, okay?”

“I’ll get started on my homework.” William said.

Felicity laid her daughter down in bed and stood there just watching her for a little bit. “I know Daddy is watching over us, but I really wish he could be here for moments like this.”

“Dada.”

“That’s right. Dada, he’s watching over us, but I know he wants to be here to give us all hugs and kisses.” She said. “Go to sleep, Little Star.”

Even though Mia was fussy when Felicity would put her down for a nap, she always fell asleep easily. Soon, she was starting to doze off while Felicity tidied up her room. When she was sure Mia was asleep, she started talking.

“He wanted you to bring her back, didn’t he? He found you, or you found him, and he asked you to give him Nora back.” She said. “And you said “no”. You said “no” so he came to see me. What did he think that I was going to do? Somehow talk you into doing it? Not a very good plan.”

Oliver listened to Felicity talk through Barry’s visit and smiled. This whole situation was way beyond what most people could wrap their heads around, yet Felicity had already figured out exactly what had happened, and more importantly, why.

When Mia woke up from her nap, the clouds had dissipated and it was sunny outside, the perfect weather for Mia to run around and play with William for a little bit before dinner. Oliver couldn't give Bloomfield nice weather everyday, but once in a while couldn't hurt.

Barry was speeding around a store, getting as many customers away from the armed robbers as possible. He ran towards a woman with a baby carrier, but wasn’t able to stop himself in time to grab ahold of her. instead, he shot right past her and crashed into the wall. Shaking it off, he managed to get her outside on the second attempt, but when he went back in to stop the robbery, something else happened. When he went to confront the pair, they were somehow able to both see him, and shoot at him. Sure, they mostly missed and the one bullet that hit him grazed his arm, but it was still confusing.

Barry tied the men up and went back to Star Labs. After he’d changed out of the Flash suit, Cisco approached him and asked what had happened during that call.

“I don’t know. They could- somehow, they could see me, even when I was moving at my top speed.”

“Uh….you weren’t moving at your top speed, dude. When they shot you, it was more like my top speed, or someone a little faster. Not like….you weren’t zipping around like you normally do.” He said.

“What?”

“I think we need to get you down to the Speed Lab.” He said.

Barry went there and started running on the special treadmill they’d made for him. His team watched his vitals as he moved. For a little while, everything seemed to be normal, but then his speed would yo-yo drastically. When he started moving too slow and flew off the treadmill, he looked at Caitlin and Cisco.

“What’s happening to me?”

“No clue, but your speed is- it’s being really inconsistent.”

Thinking that maybe the issue was mental, not physical, Barry called it a day. He went home for a while and was just puttering around the house when he got a phone call. Kara wanted to know if he could meet her for a drink.

Barry met Kara at a bar halfway between Central and National City. It was nice to talk to another paragon, the only people who remembered Crisis, and it helped him keep his mind off of the problem he was having and the situation with Nora.

As soon as Kara walked into the bar, he could tell that she wanted to meet up with him because she needed to vent. She took a seat and asked him how things were going, but soon she started talking about her problems.

Lex Luthor suddenly being considered a hero by the whole world was difficult for her to wrap her head around. Sure, J’onn had managed to give Clark, Alex and a few others their memories from before Crisis back, but millions of people still thought he was a hero, and were praising him and she hated it.

“I just- I wish there was something I could do. Some way that I could fix this.” She said, finishing her rant.

“If I could go back and change this, I would.” He’d tried to bring Nora back by going back and changing how they stopped Cicada. Unfortunately, a side effect of the new multiverse meant that he couldn’t change pre-Crisis events. He couldn’t even visit that point in time. “There’s someone who might be able to.”

“Who?”

“The guy who created this new world we’re living in.” He said. “If you can find Oliver, wherever he is, maybe he can do something.”

Kara wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. She also wasn’t sure that it wasn’t a good idea. She thought about it for a few seconds before asking Barry how his team was doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Suggestions?


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver tries something new and is given a chance to vent. Kara makes a decision about what to do about Luthor.

Oliver watched Barry and Kara talking at the bar. Even though he knew what would come next, a part of him hoped that his two friends, the two people he sacrificed his life for, wouldn’t continue to try and convince him to use his powers to benefit themselves. He wasn’t sure if this was part of their grieving process, somehow, or if they just lacked self-awareness, but he found himself getting angry at them, but mostly Barry, for their attitudes lately.

Barry and Kara went their separate ways after a while and Oliver turned his attention back to the multiverse as a whole. For the most part, everything seemed to be perfect. When he rebooted the universe, he brought some people back to life, yes, but he also wanted to be sure that the city he fought so hard to save for so long would stay safe. With his city now safe, Oliver could spend time watching over his family.

Oliver watched as William chased after Mia in the cabin’s yard. Both his kids were smiling and laughing. The longer he watched, the angrier he started to get. As happy as he was that Mia and William were going to grow up together and happy, he should be there. He’d been an archer, a hero who had no powers, why did he have to be the one to die to save the multiverse? What made Barry so much more important than him?

Becoming the Spectre, he rebooted the universe and brought back his family, who were destroyed by the Anti-Matter wave. He wouldn’t ever regret that, but he was angry at the price he had to pay. Oliver watched his kids play before they had dinner and eventually, they both went to bed. When he knew Mia and William were both asleep, he decided to give something a try.

After Mia and William were both asleep, Felicity sat in the living room with a glass of wine and her tablet in front of her. She had a few things she needed to get done for work, and on top of that, she wanted to check in on a few people. She was typing away and only realized she wasn’t alone when she reached for her glass of wine and saw an arm hand it to her.

Jerking backwards, Felicity jumped when she saw her husband sitting next to her. She kissed him and then pulled away. “Did I fall asleep on the couch? That’s not gonna be good for my neck.”

“No, you’re awake.” He said. “You normally come to me, this time I thought I should come to you.”

“But I thought- you said you couldn’t stay on Earth after you became the Spectre.” She said.

“I can’t stay, no. Not permanently. There’s nothing in the rules that say I can’t visit.” He said with a smile. “And I needed to get away from…..where I was.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I’m there, I can see everything. But here? Here I can’t, and that’s a blessing.” He said. “Especially when what I’m seeing is making me rethink whether I should’ve rebooted the universe the way that I did. Because some people are bitter that I didn’t automatically fix everything for them completely.”

“You mean Barry.”

“Not just him, but he’s part of the problem.” He said. “I died. For him and Kara, and the rest of existence, but specifically for them so that the universe wouldn’t lose them. I didn’t know, when I died, that I was going to become the Spectre. I died, so that when the Anti-Monitor appeared, they’d be around to fight him. I sacrificed myself for them. And for some reason, that’s not enough. I gave everything I could, but it still wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough.”

“No, no. That is not true. It was more than enough. You are more than enough.” She said fiercely. “They are the problem. He is the problem. Sometimes, you do things for people because you think they’re worth it, and it turns out you’re wrong.”

“He tried to use you and Mia to sway my argument.” He said. “When he asked me to bring Nora back, he said that if the situations were reversed, and we came to him about Mia, he’d do it without a second thought.”

“I guess it’s a good thing that its not up to him then.” She shrugged. “I don’t mean that in a bad way, its just- Barry strikes me as someone who does what feels good or right in the moment. I think one of the reasons you became the Spectre is because you’re willing to do the hard thing, make the tough call, even if it means you don’t always get what you want.”

“Maybe.” He said. “I wish I could stay here but- I created this universe, and it needs me to keep things in balance. Without balance, something like the Crisis could-.”

“You already explained all of this to me, remember?” She said. “Am I happy about this? No, I can’t say that I am, but you’re still alive, kinda. I still get to see you. It’s an adjustment but we’ll make it.”

“Assuming I don’t mess the whole thing up.”

“You won’t. I don’t think you know how to fail.” Oliver might not have won every battle he fought, but he did win every war, to one degree or another. He saved his city countless times, he saved the world, and then the multiverse. Now, he had nearly unlimited cosmic powers. The multiverse couldn’t be in safer hands than his.

He rested his forehead against Felicity’s. “I have to go, but I’ll see you soon.”

“I’ll be waiting.” She responded.

He stood up from the couch and his eye caught the red and green rose he’d created for her. “How do you explain the rose to other people when they ask?”

“Sara’s the only person who has, and I told her the truth. If anyone else asks, I’ll say I found it on the Internet and it reminded me of you.” She said. “I know it sounds selfish, but it’s the one thing I have of yours that I don’t have to share with someone else.”

He gave her a sad smile before vanishing and returning to his own dimension.

Back in his domain, he turned his attention back to the rest of creation. There were so many moving parts he needed to keep an eye on, so many potential problems he couldn’t let get out of control.

After watching Kara struggle for days over what to do about Lex, he knew the moment she decided to reach out to him about the situation. As Oliver did with Barry, he let Kara run around, ask ally after ally for help reaching out to him, trying to find him before he let himself appear to her.

She seemed startled when she found herself standing in front of him. “Hi Oliver, I-.”

“I’m not going to bring it back, Kara.” He said. “I’m not going to reverse the destruction of Krypton.” He knew this wasn’t why Kara wanted to talk to him. He wanted to know how she would react to his assumption though. Would she reveal her real desire? Or would she try to cover her ass and pretend Oliver’s incorrect theory was true?

“I- that’s not why I wanted to see you.” She said quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Kara have a chat, which goes a little bit better than the one he had with Barry.

As Oliver did with Barry, he let Kara run around, ask ally after ally for help reaching out to him, trying to find him before he let himself appear to her.

She seemed startled when she found herself standing in front of him. “Hi Oliver, I-.”

“I’m not going to bring it back, Kara.” He said. “I’m not going to reverse the destruction of Krypton.” He knew this wasn’t why Kara wanted to talk to him. He wanted to know how she would react to his assumption though. Would she reveal her real desire? Or would she try to cover her ass and pretend Oliver’s incorrect theory was true?

“I- that’s not why I wanted to see you.” She said quietly. “I need help with-.”

“I know why you’re here, Kara.” He said. “In the universe that was, Lex Luthor was a known criminal that no one trusted. Now, the world sees him as a hero. And you’ve come to me to ask me to “fix it”. I knew what you were going to ask before you did. it’s one of the perks of being what I am now.”

“If you knew, why’d you bring up Krypton?”

“I wanted to see what you’d say. Krypton was your home planet. It’s not outrageous to think that one day you, or perhaps your cousin, will come to me and ask me to undo what happened to it.” He said. “it was also your one chance for an “out” to not have this conversation.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think you fully understand what I’m capable of. I could bring Krypton back, but I won’t.” He explained. It sounded mean to say, but without the planet’s destruction, Kara and Clark wouldn’t be very important. Bringing the planet back would mean they’d have no purpose in this new universe. “I won’t because it would cause too much of a ripple effect and I just got this new universe to settle. Still, I would’ve understood you trying to bargain with me to save Krypton. Instead, you want me to solve the problem you have with a single person.”

“Don’t- you’re making it sound like I’m trying to take the easy way out.”

“Well, that’s kinda how it looks from here.” Oliver was starting to understand part of why the Spectre couldn’t live on Earth. If he was easy to find, people would never stop coming to him, looking for an easy, magical solution to their problems. “It’s not my job to fix all of your problems for you. While I couldn’t stop you from trying to find me, I will admit I’m a little annoyed that Barry nudged you in this direction.” Oliver said. “I wouldn’t fix his problem, why would he think I’d fix yours?”

“His problem?” Kara asked.

“He asked me to fix something for him, and I said no. Just like I’m saying “no” to you about changing everyone’s minds about Lex.” He said.

“I- yes, I do want everyone to stop worshipping the ground Lex walks on, but I didn’t come here for that. Well, I wanted to ask, I thought I could at least ask and the worst you could do was say "no" but that’s not- I’m a big girl, I solve my own problems. I’m just lost as to how I’m supposed to show everyone that Lex can’t be trusted.”

“And one day, you will figure it out, but unmasking Lex Luthor like he’s a Scooby-Doo villain is going to need to wait.” He said. “There are other, more immediate threats you need to consider.” Even if Lex Luthor was a “good guy” now, he was still Lex Luthor. Sooner or later, he’d show his true colors. Sooner or later, he’d do something that Supergirl or Superman could expose him for. Lex could wait. Leviathan and their plans couldn’t.

“Like what?”

“I made it clear I wasn’t going to just hand you all of the answers, Kara.” He said. “What was your biggest concern before the Crisis started?”

Before she could answer, the room around her faded and she found herself back in her apartment. “Well, that was cryptic and unhelpful. I wonder what he meant, problems I had before Crisis?”

“This is why gods never wanna talk to mortals.” Oliver said with an eyeroll. “You always want some kind of divine intervention, even when its not called for.”

“Yes, I find mortal beings to be very-.”

“You might have a long lifespan, Novu, but you’re still mortal. You can still die.” Oliver said. “And I’d advise you to leave before I decide to show you how mortal you really are.”

He understood that the Monitor served an important role in Crisis and ending the Crisis, but Oliver was still angry that he was recruited only to die. He died in order to become something else, but he still died and he was still angry about that. Being the Spectre meant that he’d have to watch his children grow up from afar and that’s the last thing that he wanted. Wisely, the Monitor left after Oliver’s not-so-vague threats.

Oliver exhaled as he watched people on Earth live their lives completely ignorant to the bigger plans at work. it was a little refreshing, watching people who had no idea what was really going on around them. Life seemed so simple.

“That’s two paragons down. I wonder how long it’ll be before the rest of them come asking for something.” He remarked. “Except maybe Sara. I don’t think she’d storm in asking for something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions?


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The paragons come to an agreement and Felicity learns about Crisis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is going back in time to right after Crisis ended, because I realized I hadn't shown Spectre-Oliver's reunion with Felicity and that needed to happen.

After the Anti-Monitor was defeated, the Monitor didn’t immediately send the paragons to Earth. Instead, he kept them aboard the Waverider, saying they needed to come to an agreement on a few matters before he could release them.

“Meaning what, exactly?” Lex asked.

“The Earth you remember is not the Earth you are returning to. For one thing, you’re no longer from different Earths, but the same.” He answered. “For another, the Crisis this universe remembers wasn’t as…..spectacular as the one you do. Unless you prefer being seen as insane, you need to listen to what I must tell you.”

He started going over all of the changes that had been made when this new universe was created. Most of them were minor, but a few would definitely take some getting used to. The Monitor was interested in making sure the paragons didn’t make the Crisis or Oliver’s sacrifice meaningless by causing another one to occur. When he was done explaining, he asked if there were any questions.

“Where did Ollie go?” Sara asked. Oliver had vanished from the deck of the Waverider and he wasn’t dead, so he needed to be somewhere.

“I don’t know. He is beyond my sight at the moment.” The Monitor answered. “I imagine he is looking to find his own footing, as an immensely powerful being in this new paradigm. That is another topic you must discuss and come to an agreement on.”

“What do you mean?” Kate asked.

“Oliver Queen, as the world knows him, cannot remain on Earth. He is too powerful and there would be consequences. The seven of you must decide how you will explain his disappearance to the rest of the world.” He said. “I’ll leave you to discuss.”

When the Monitor left the bridge, the paragons stood around looking at one another. “Can’t we just say that he died, tragically, to save the world and be done with it?” Lex said.

“Is that what we’re going to tell _everyone_?” J’onn asked.

“Why wouldn’t we tell everyone the same thing?” Ryan asked. “I mean, I didn’t know Oliver, so I feel like I’m missing something here.”

“You mean, do we tell Felicity, his wife, that he’s dead when he really isn’t.” Sara said.

“Even if he’s not dead, he can’t be on Earth. You heard Novu.” Barry said.

“I….kinda agree with Barry.” Kara said. “Telling her he’s alive would just make everything worse for her.”

“If it was Iris, or Alex, you’re really saying you’d want them to think you’re dead?” Sara challenged. Both heroes nodded, but she noticed a slight hesitation.

“You know how Felicity is, if we tell her he’s alive out there, somewhere, she’s gonna spend the rest of her life trying to get back to him.” Barry said. “Who knows what that could mean or the destruction it could cause.”

“There are seven of us, so there can’t be a tie. Why don’t we just put it to a vote?” Kate suggested.

“Fine by me.”

“Okay. All in favor of telling Felicity the truth?” Sara and Ryan raised their hands. “All in favor of letting everyone, including Felicity, think Oliver’s dead?” Kate, Kara, J’onn, Lex and Barry raised their hands.

Lex agreed because he wanted to finally get off of the Waverider. Kate and J’onn voted the way they did because it seemed like the most pragmatic option. Kara and Barry both claimed that telling Felicity the truth would be too painful, but Sara was certain that it wasn’t the only reason.

“Fine.” Sara said. “For the record, this is really fucked up, but I’ll go along with this.” For now, at least.

While the paragons were arguing aboard the Waverider, Felicity was putting Mia down for a nap. Her daughter had been very fussy lately, almost as if she knew something terrible was going on. Trying to keep Mia calm was hard enough, but assuring William that everything was going to be okay was another challenge entirely.

She was walking out of Mia’s nursery when Archer announced someone was approaching the house. Her heart stopped when the system told her who it was.

“Oliver Queen is entering the residence.”

The door opened slowly and Felicity stood there frozen as Oliver walked into the cabin and closed the door behind him. The pair stood there, staring at one another until Oliver spoke.

“Hi, honey.”

Hearing his voice spurred Felicity forward and she practically threw herself into her husband’s arms. He caught her and wrapped both arms around her, holding her close. After a few minutes of simply enjoying the fac that Oliver was alive, and here, Felicity started peppering him with questions.

“Does this mean-? Is it over? You’re done saving the multiverse, right?”

“Yes.” He said. “And no.” She pulled away slightly. “The Crisis is over, but- the multiverse was destroyed, this Earth was destroyed and in order to bring everything and everyone back, I had to become something else. And I was the only one who could.”

“What does that mean?” She asked. “And what’s wrong with your eyes?” Oliver had blue eyes. That was one of the first things Felicity ever noticed about him. Oliver Queen had blue eyes, so it was a little disconcerting to see that now, they were a glowing green hue.

“I needed to bring everyone back. I couldn’t-.” He started to say. “The only way everything could be fixed was to, quite literally, recreate the universe, but I couldn’t do that as Oliver Queen. And now, I’m no longer just Oliver Queen, but also the Spectre.”

“Okay. So, now you’re Oliver and a Spectre. That’s….it’ll take some getting used to and I don’t know how we’re gonna explain this to everyone, but its fine. We’ll figure it out.” She said. “I’m just glad you’re home.” He looked away from her guiltily. “What?”

“I can’t- I can’t stay here, on Earth. Not permanently at least.” He admitted.

“What?”

“I’m….the Spectre is powerful, powerful enough to create an entire multiverse out of almost nothing.” He said. “I’m basically God, or at least a god. This plane of existence isn’t- if I stay here for too long at any one time, a lot of very bad things would happen.” He started listing things that he instinctively knew would happen if he tried to stay and before he got too far down the list, she stopped him.

“That’s- you don’t need to continue.” She said, before she started rubbing her forehead. “This isn’t fair. You fought for years, saved so many people. You saved the fracking world, and this is the thanks you get? You can’t come home; you don’t get to be with your family. It’s not- you deserve better than this.”

“All of those things you mentioned? I’ll get them, just not right now.” He said knowingly. “For right now, though, I need to be “dead” as far as everyone knows, again, and you’ve got a job to do, raising Mia.”

“But I’ll see you again?” She asked. “Please tell me this isn’t actually goodbye.”

“Our love is so much bigger than the freaking universe, as you said. Of course it isn’t goodbye.” He said before kissing her. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” She said.

They kissed for a few minutes before he pulled away. “I need to go. Soon, Sara, Barry, Kara, Kate and J’onn are gonna arrive to tell you that I died. Even though, they know I didn’t.”

She wasn’t quite ready to let him go, so she sat there, rubbing his cheek until she heard several voices call her name. Oliver vanished before her eyes and she took a few seconds to collect herself before heading to the door.

“Felicity,” Barry said, “I don’t really know how to say this.”

“No.” She said. “Please don’t say it. Don’t tell me that-.”

“Oliver’s gone. I’m so-.”

“Go away.” She said, bracing herself against the deck. “All of you. Just- go!” Felicity had put on a brave face when she was talking to Oliver, but upon him leaving and the paragons telling her that he was dead, she finally was able to let her feelings out. “Did you not hear me? Get lost before I make you all leave!”

Kate and J’onn left without a fuss. Barry and Kara looked like they wanted to say something else, but decided better of it. Sara stayed the longest.

“I know you don’t wanna hear this right now, but if you need anything, anything at all, you know how to find me.” She said before walking away. “Why did you do this, Ollie?” She asked the sky.

“I didn’t want to.” Oliver answered from another plane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions?


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Kara both try to deal with the lesson Oliver's trying to teach them, and William has a confession to make.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder: This chapter takes place after chapter 7, chapter 8 was a flashback.

The thing about Barry Allen was that he was persistent. This was partially due to his genuine personality, and partially because of how persistent he needed to be in order to learn how to use his speed when he first woke up from his coma. Given that he could travel back in time, if he ever messed up a given situation, he could go back and try again until he got things right.

This was good for the people of Central City, since their resident hero tended to make mistakes a lot in the beginning. It was bad for Barry, at least in the moment, because he’d gotten used to the fact that his persistence paid off. if he tried enough times, or didn’t give up in his investigation, he usually achieved the outcome he wanted. The problem was that the Spectre, Oliver, didn’t care about how persistent Barry was. He wasn’t going to change his mind about bringing Nora West-Allen back to life and it seemed Barry didn’t realize his powers were being wonky for a reason. There was a lesson Barry needed to learn.

Given that Barry didn’t understand what Oliver was trying to do, the speedster thought his speed being inconsistent was a fluke. If he trained hard enough, he could push past his problems and things would go back to normal. After Barry was struck by lightning in Star Lab’s parking lot, his speed had been all over the place. He’d be running at his normal speed and suddenly, he’d slow down to a normal human’s speed, or begin moving so fast he’d pass through solid objects without meaning to.

“You wanna take a break?” Cisco asked Barry after he had another “episode”, slowed down way too much and crashed into a wall.

“No. This- Caitlin said my bloodwork’s fine. it means this isn’t physiological, its psychological. I just need to push through it.” He answered.

“If its “all in your head” wouldn’t taking a break be a better idea than continuing to repeat something that’s clearly not working?”

“I can’t just take a mental health day.” Barry responded.

From his domain, Oliver watched as Barry struggled with his powers and completed missed the point that he needed to learn. He wished he could say that he was surprised, but Barry had changed quite a bit since the day they’d met and it wasn’t entirely for the better.

“Yeah, you can’t stop and think, because it’s not like Central City has other heroes. You’re not even the only speedster anymore, or does Wally not count?” Oliver said to himself. “And you wonder why this is happening.”

Barry got back on his treadmill and started running again. If he could get faster, if he could find a way to get back to where Oliver was, maybe he'd get another chance to convince him.

Ever since her conversation with Oliver, Kara had been focused on one thing and one thing only: figuring out what his vague parting words meant. He asked her what her biggest problem was before Crisis, but she was drawing a blank on what that meant. Lena knowing her secret? The Phantom Zone prisoners being released? Leviathan was no longer a threat, so it couldn’t be them.

“Okay, what’s with the murder board?” Alex asked when she walked into Kara’s apartment and saw papers scattered everywhere.

“What?”

“You know how in movies, the detective who just can’t let a case go puts everything on a giant corkboard, hoping somehow, having everything laid out, will give them the answer?” She said. “This looks an awful lot like that, but on the floor.”

“I’m trying to figure something out. Really doesn’t seem to be working, since I feel like i’m missing something.”

“Well, what did you expect?” A voice said from behind Alex. Alex drew her weapon and turned to face the intruder. Mister Mxyzptlk stood there with his arms raised. “I’m not here to cause trouble.”

“You exist to cause mischief.” Kara said.

“What did you mean, what did she expect? Is this your doing?” Alex asked.

“I’m afraid this is above even my paygrade.” He answered. “It came straight from the top.”

“Mixy, can’t you just tell me what’s going on?”

“Did you truly expect the Spectre to give you a straightforward or easy answer?” He asked. “If he did, people would never stop coming to him, asking for a divine solution to their problems. How does the saying go? God helps those who help themselves.”

“So, I need to figure this out myself.”

“Yup, and it’s staring you right in the face.” He said. “You know, for an intrepid investigative reporter, you take a lot more at face value than you should.”

Before she could ask what that meant, he disappeared, leaving her and Alex alone in the apartment. “What was that about? And who or what is the Spectre?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Felicity had just put Mia down for a nap, and walked into the living room to check on William. She could tell that something had been bothering him for the last few days, but she hoped he’d come to her to talk about it. So far, he hadn’t and she decided a different approach was needed.

“You wanna tell me what’s wrong?” She asked, causing him to look up from his math book.

“I don’t know what-.”

“For the last week or so, something’s been off about you.” She said. “I can tell something's bugging you. What is it? What’s wrong?”

“It’s….about Dad, which is why I didn't wanna say anything.”

“I’m not gonna burst into tears if you mention him, you know.”

“Maybe not, but every time he comes up, you look sad.”

“Well, I miss him. I wish he could be here with us, but he’s not. I’m allowed to be sad, and so are you.” She said. “And don’t think I’m ignoring the fact that you’re stalling. What about Dad?”

“I don’t think he’s really dead.” Will said. “I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes, it feels like he’s here, like I can sense him, I guess? But when I can feel him watching me, I turn around and he’s not there.”

“That’s not crazy or abnormal. He was your father, his presence is-.”

“It’s not just that. I- I couldn’t sleep a few weeks ago. You were sitting out here and I heard you talking to him, at first I thought you were just talking to yourself, but I- I could’ve sworn i heard someone answer back at one point.”

“William…”

“You think I’m crazy, don’t you? I’ve completely lost it.”

“You’re not crazy.” She said. Maybe in a year or several, she’d tell William the truth. She wasn’t sure if something bad would happen if he knew the truth about Oliver. Right now, she knew she needed to comfort her son, though, which meant just telling him that he wasn’t crazy. “The last year, the last three years, have been insane. This is- I think your brain’s still trying to find a way to process everything that’s happened and that means- I don’t know what it means, but you’re not losing your mind, I promise.”

“How come I can feel him watching me? And I heard his voice?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll need to figure that out.” She said, hugging him. She needed to talk about this with Oliver the next time she saw him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions?


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara finally gets on the right track, Barry practically runs himself into the ground and Felicity asks Oliver for some advice.

Kara sat in her living room, trying to figure out what Mixy’s words meant. The interdimensional imp was never very clear, but something about what he’d said right before leaving struck a chord with her. It didn’t seem like he was being obnoxious on purpose, but trying to nudge her in the right direction.

“It’s staring you right in the face.” That’s what he’d said and then followed it up with “for an intrepid investigative reporter, you take a lot more at face value than you should.”

She had a feeling that the answer was somewhere in those words. Oliver had told her to think about her biggest problems before Crisis. Mixy told her that she took too much at face-value. So, what problem of hers, from before Crisis, was she overlooking?

“It can’t be Lena, because nothing there’s resolved.” She said to herself. “And the Phantom Zone prisoners wouldn’t make sense. And Leviathan’s- wait, what about Leviathan?” An idea struck her. “No one’s worried about them anymore. They say the group’s all “dealt with”, but what if they’re not? After all, no one’s been able to tell me how they were stopped, or what happened there. Did they just go away? Did the group never exist on Earth Prime? Well, they had to, because everyone knows about it but- oh Rao, I’m such an idiot. So focused on the changes after Crisis that I-.” She didn’t finish the thought, but rushed out of her apartment to head to the DEO so that she could find more information about this reality’s Leviathan.

“You’re not an idiot.” Oliver said from his domain. “Just….focused on the wrong problem at the wrong time. But you’re back on track now, which is better than I can say for some people.”

As complicated as Oliver’s feelings about Barry, Kara and his decision to trade his life for theirs during Crisis were, he didn’t hate either of them. Barry and Kara had been his friends, his allies. He was angry, yes, especially since his “death”. Part of him was disappointed in them. He’d given them, along with reality, a second chance and they didn’t seem to know what to do with it. Kara, at least, was taking his advice and trying to move forward and figure things out for herself. Barry, smart but stubborn Barry, was not. It didn’t even seem like he was trying to move forward, instead wanting to return to the past.

Barry and Kara were both being taught the same lesson here: clean up your own mess, but the speedster was under the impression that getting faster was the key to solving all of his problems.

Barry was running on his special treadmill, and he was about to comment that his speed was finally back to normal, when it fluctuated again and he went flying off of the machine. Thankfully, after the same thing had happened a few dozen times, Cisco had convinced Barry to let him cover the room in padding so that he didn’t hurt himself.

Barry landed on a cushion and got to his feet. “How long was it this time?”

“You managed to maintain your speed for five minutes and seven seconds.” Cisco answered.

“No, it was longer. There’s no way it was that little time.”

“I had three different things timing you, including the treadmill. It was 5:07.” He said.

“I’m gonna go again.” Barry said, getting to his feet. He needed to get faster. Once he got faster, he could get back to wherever Oliver was, whatever Speed Force-like dimension he’d been in, and talk to him again. He needed another chance to convince Oliver to fix things.

Barry got back on the treadmill and Cisco rolled his eye before leaving the room. He moved to an observation platform and watched Barry run. Iris was standing there, biting her nails as she watched her husband try and fail to control his speed.

“Any idea when Wally’s gonna-?” Cisco was about to say when there was a rush of air and Wally was standing in front of him. “-get here? Hey, man.”

“Hey. What’s going on?” Wally asked. “Iris didn’t give me any detail on the phone and-.”

“It’s Barry. He’s been- his speed’s been inconsistent.” Iris said. “Sometimes, he’s completely normal, and then-.” There was a crash below them. They all looked to see that he’d been thrown off the treadmill again. “Then, that happens. He thinks he can just power through it, but- well, it’s been almost two days and it doesn’t seem to be working.”

“So, you called me.” Wally said, still a little confused about why he was here.

“He won’t listen to us about taking a break, getting some rest. We thought he might listen to you, speedster-to-speedster.” Cisco said. “If this doesn’t work, we’re just gonna knock him out, toss him in the pipeline until he’s had time to rest and then try to talk some sense into him.”

“I only promise to try.” Wally said before heading down to where Barry was running. He was moving at around his normal speed, which was a good sign. “Hey, can I talk to you for a second?”

“Now?” Barry asked. “I’m kinda training here.”

“Training for what?”

“I have to- it doesn’t matter. I just need to go faster. I have to go faster.”

“And running yourself into the ground is gonna make you faster? We both know it doesn’t work that way.”

“I can’t afford to-.” Barry started to say before, once again, his legs slowed down and he went flying off the treadmill. When he landed, he hit his head on a metal table, knocking him out.

“Barry? Barry!” Wally yelled.

Barry opened his eyes and he was back in his lab at the CCPD. He couldn’t remember how he got here.

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” Oliver asked him. He spun around to see Oliver standing there with his arms crossed. “Are you trying to die?”

“No, I’m trying to get faster. Faster enough so that I can find you and-. Why are we in my lab? Last time, we were in a kitchen.”

“Did you knock yourself out to talk to me about location preferences?” He countered. “You wanna get fast enough to find me and what? Finish the sentence.”

“I want you to fix things!” Barry exclaimed. “This Earth Prime, it’s- I just want things back to normal.”

“Meaning what? You want Nora back? You want things to be a little easier?” He asked. “You think I don’t wish the Crisis didn’t happen? You think I don’t want things too? Crisis happened, and you went home. Kara went home. Luthor, Ryan. Kate, J’onn and Sara, they all went home. I didn’t get to go home, Barry.”

“I know that but-.”

“No, no buts. You don’t get to say “I know, but”. Not to me. I died. I left my wife, my son and my newborn daughter behind to save the universe. And I died to save it! But that means that they have to spend the rest of their lives without me!” He yelled, his green eyes glowing brighter for a moment. “And you come here, and you demand that I fix things, for you. That I snap my fingers and make all of your problems go away. Because, even though you went home to your team, and your friends, and your wife, that’s not enough. No, you want everything handed to you. Well, that’s not gonna happen. You want things to get better, fix them yourself.”

“Oliver, if you’d just-.”

“Clean up your own mess!” He said. “If you come back here, again, demanding that I help you, you’re not going to like what happens.”

“Ol-.” Before he could finish, he found his vision being filled by a bright light.

“Barry, can you hear me?” Caitlin said, shining a light in his eye. “Oh, good. You’re awake. You took quite a hit.”

“Wait, Oliver, I wasn’t done talking to-”

“Woah, you must’ve gotten hit harder than we thought.” Cisco said. “If you’re talking to the dead.”

“Cisco, not helping.” The doctor said.

Felicity sat on the couch in the cabin as she thought about what William had told her. Her son thought he was going crazy, because he’d heard Oliver’s voice. She couldn’t tell him that he didn’t hear Oliver’s voice, because that would be a lie, but she also couldn’t tell him that he had heard his voice, because she didn’t know what would happen as a result.

She wasn’t sure what to do, and moments like this were when she missed Oliver the most. She thought she was a good mother, but Oliver was such a great father. He’d definitely have a better idea of what to do in this situation if things were somehow reversed.

“Oliver? I could really use someone to talk to right now.” She said to the air. “If you’re not too busy doing…..other stuff.”

“Oh, I’m always available for you.” He said, appearing next to her on the couch. “William?”

“He heard you last time you were here, heard me talking to you. And he thinks he’s going crazy. I don’t wanna tell him that he didn’t hear anything, because it would be a lie, but I also can’t- I don’t know what to do. I’m not as good at this “parenting” thing as you are.”

“Yes, you are.” He said. “This is just a weird, nearly impossible, insane situation.” He sighed. “They don’t exactly write about this in parenting books.’

“But still, what am I supposed to do? Lie to him? Tell him the truth? I don’t-.”

“Felicity, honey, I don’t think there’s-.”

“Dad?” A voice said from behind them. They both turned around to see William standing there. “You- you’re-.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions?
> 
> Yes, I know that's a mean cliffhanger, but I regret nothing.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William has a shocking reunion, while Barry realizes that he might need a little bit of help.

Felicity was telling Oliver about her struggles being a good parent to William. The preteen had told her that he’d heard Oliver’s voice and thought he was going crazy. She was at a loss about what to do. She didn’t want to lie to him, but at the same time, she didn’t know how to tell him the truth about the situation. She felt like a failure.

“But still, what am I supposed to do? Lie to him? Tell him the truth? I don’t-.” She said.

“Felicity, honey, I don’t think there’s-.”

“Dad?” A voice said from behind them. They both turned around to see William standing there. “You- you’re-.”

Oliver stood up from the couch and slowly walked closer to his son. “Hey, buddy. I know this is-.”

Before he could finish, William rushed over and hugged his father. “I knew it! I knew you were alive.” He said. Oliver couldn’t help but think that this reunion was almost an exact repeat of his reunion with Thea after Lian Yu. He hugged his son and enjoyed the moment. After a few moments, William pulled back. “But I don’t understand. If you’re alive, then why-?”

“It’s complicated.” Oliver said.

“That’s what you always say, and it never is.” He responded.

“No, it’s actually really complicated.” Felicity said. “I’m really smart and I don’t fully understand it. Your dad’s alive, but he….he can’t stay here with us.”

“Why not?”

“I- to help save the universe during the Crisis, I couldn’t remain being the person I was. I needed to become something else, something more.” Oliver explained. “And it gave me powers, but my powers are too- a little help here, honey?” Even though they were talking about his powers, he had a feeling Felicity would be able to explain it better.

“Will, what happens if you have too many things drawing electricity at the same time?” She asked.

“The grid gets overloaded and the power goes out.” He said. “What does that have to do with Dad?”

“It was the best example I could think. Your dad is- he’s very powerful now, and if he stays here for too long at a time, bad things will start happening because the universe can’t contain the amount of power that he has.”

“So, he’ll like….create a blackhole or something?”

“In all honesty, we’re not completely sure. But I can’t- I don’t want something bad to happen to the universe because of me.” Oliver said. “I can’t stay here, but I’m allowed to visit, not as often as I want to, but I can. And when I’m….in my other place, I can watch over you and your sister.”

“So, when I thought I heard your voice a few days ago, you were really here?”

“Yeah. I wanted to see Felicity, you and Mia.” He admitted.

Will was about to say something when Mia started crying in her crib. Felicity went into the nursery and came out rocking Mia. “Good afternoon, Mia Bear. Did you have a nice sleep? Wanted to let everyone know you were awake?”

Mia gurgled in response, while looking around. “Felicity, can I-?” Oliver asked, holding his arms out to take Mia.

“I’m a little surprised you didn’t teleport into the nursery to pick her up before I got there.” She joked as she handed him the baby. Mia started to kick her legs excitedly when she was in her father’s arms. “I think someone missed you.”

“Not as much as I missed her.” He said. “Mia, look how big you’ve gotten.”

William and Felicity watched Oliver talk to Mia in silence for a few minutes before the preteen spoke again. “It’s not fair.”

“What?” Oliver asked.

“It’s not fair. You saved the city, you saved the universe, but you can’t stay here. With your family. It’s not fair.”

“I know. I said the same thing when he told me.” Felicity said. “We should get to be together, as a family. But Dad’s alive, and he can visit us, which is what I choose to focus on. And when he’s here, we have him all to ourselves.”

“I still don’t think it’s fair.”

“That’s because it’s not fair.” Oliver said. “I wish I could stay here, watch you and Mia grow up, but I- things just didn’t work out that way.”

He bounced Mia a few more times before he felt the familiar tug that prompted him to return to his dimension. It was time for him to leave.

“I gotta go, buddy, but I’ll see you soon.” He said. “Give me a hug.” William was angry about the situation, but walked over to his father and gave him a hug goodbye. Oliver said goodbye to Mia and Felicity before heading back to his dimension. When he was gone, Felicity turned to her son.

“So, do you wanna talk about-?”

“Why did it have to be him? Why couldn’t it have been someone else?”

“I don’t know. Sometimes, I think it’s because he’s the only one who’d be willing to make that kind of sacrifice.” She said.

“Do you wanna tell him, or should I?” Caitlin asked Cisco after Barry left the Cortex to spend more time running on his treadmill, trying to figure out what was happening with his speed.

“We don’t know that-.” Cisco said.

“I know it’s Barry, and we don’t wanna admit it, but we gotta be objective here. I’m looking at what the data is telling me, and what the data is telling me is that-.”

“We don’t have enough data points to prove-.”

“I know a trend when I see one. Back to the matter at hand. Do you wanna tell him or should I?” She asked.

“Tell who what?” Iris asked.

“I think I know what’s happening to Barry.” She said.

“You do? Great, let’s go tell him and we can figure out how to fix it.”

“We can’t.” Caitlin said. “At least, I don’t know how yet.”

“What? What do you mean we-?”

“Barry’s cells have been….changed, probably because of what happened during the Crisis. I don’t know if the same thing’s happening to the other paragons, but- his cells don’t seem capable of maintaining their stability, causing his speed to fail and his body to alternate between the hyper-excited state and a normal, baseline, state.”

“And I still say that maybe, when he was struck by lightning last week, it jumbled a few things up.” Cisco said. “It might be taking him longer to get back to normal.”

“I don’t think waiting and seeing if the best move here. If his cells don’t develop some kind of stability, he could lose his speed entirely or worse.” Caitlin said. “I’ll talk to Ray, maybe Felicity as well. They know more about molecular physics than I do and might have a solution. It’s at least worth asking Ray and Felicity about it.”

“Ask them about what?” Barry asked, walking into the room.

“We don’t know why your speed has been so wonky. I figured, talking to them might give me some new ideas about why this is happening.” She said. “Even f we can cross a few explanations off our list.”

“Guys, I’m fine. My speed is- I just need to focus, get faster, and then I can-.”

“Barry, everything about your body is related to your speed.” Cisco said. “So, if your speed is being inconsistent, who knows what’s happening to your organs, tissues and cells. We need to find an answer, now, which means asking for help.”

“Ask Ray first.” Barry said. “You can’t- I don’t wanna bother Felicity if I don’t have to. She’s already dealing with a lot.” After what happened the last time he saw Felicity, when he’d gotten dangerously close to revealing the truth about Oliver, he wasn’t sure asking her for help was a good idea.

Little did Barry or his team know that this situation was all part of Oliver’s design to teach Barry that he didn’t get to have a final say about everything. The universe didn’t have to fall in line to give Barry whatever he wanted, without him having to do anything. Oliver wasn’t sure if Barry would ever get the message, but hopefully the experience would teach him something.

“That lightning strike could’ve taken away your speed altogether.” Oliver said as he watched Barry and his team talk. “But I thought that might be too obvious and extreme. And you might’ve gotten yourself killed if I did that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts?


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara has a reunion she didn't expect, and Ray notices something odd about what's happening to Barry.

As soon as Barry’s team informed him that his “performance issues” were worse than he realized and that they didn’t have a solution, Cisco went to try and contact the Legends of Tomorrow. He agreed with Barry’s assessment that they should reach out to Ray first, since Felicity was dealing with quite a lot.

After a lot of failed attempts and frustration, he was able to get a message to Sara, saying that Barry had a problem and Ray might be able to help.

“Did you really just ask if you could “borrow” Ray?” Sara asked Cisco and Barry over the communication link they’d established. “You remember that he’s not a screwdriver, right?”

“Okay, wrong choice of words.” Barry said. “But we really need his help.”

“You said that, but you haven’t said what you need his help with, and if I’m gonna leave him in 2020, I need to know why and how long he’s gonna be. We’ve got problems of our own we need to take care of.”

“We’re having a….physics problem.” Barry said.

“A physics problem?” She repeated. “Send it to me. I’ll give it to Ray, have him solve it and send it back to you. Also, couldn’t Felicity-.”

“I don’t wanna bother her, not if Ray can help me instead. I’m having problems with my speed.” He said. “None of us here can figure out why. We’re hoping if Ray comes to Star Labs, and has a chance to look at all the data we’ve gathered he might figure out something we missed.”

“We’ve got no clue what’s happening to him, or why.” Cisco said. “And we don’t know how his body is being affected, how bad it is, how to fix it. Ray’s got three PhD’s and very few people know molecular physics like he does.”

“When did this problem start?” She asked. Sara was happy that they couldn’t see her face right now, because she had a pretty good idea of what was going on, or at least a suspicion, but she wasn’t going to share it.

“A week ago, when I was struck by lightning.”

“Okay. We’ll drop Ray off soon. But, if we need him for a mission, we’re gonna come back and get him. Even if your problem isn’t fixed yet.”

“You have a time machine. Can’t you-?”

“Those are my terms, take them or leave them. Ray can help you, but so can Felicity.” She said.

“Fine, yeah. That’ll work.” Barry said.

Sara ended the call. She told Ray that Barry needed his help before telling Gideon to set a course for Central City 2020. With the course set, Sara went to her cabin. “I’m guessing this is your doing, Ollie.” She said to herself.

“Am I that obvious?” His voice asked from behind her. She spun around to face him. He held his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“How’d you get in here? I mean, going to Bloomfield is one thing, but-.”

“One of the perks of being the way I am now. I can go anywhere and everywhere. Including into the time stream.” He said. “And, since you wanted to talk to me, I’d rather visit you than have you try and visit me.”

“Visit?”

“If you're determined enough, there are ways to get to where I spend most of my time. I wouldn't recommend it. Barry and Kara both ran themselves ragged trying to find a way into that dimension. It’s very annoying, especially when Barry did it a second time because he didn’t like the answer he got the first time around.” He said. “But yes, to answer your question, Barry’s current “issues” are my doing. Because he doesn’t listen.”

“Kara and Barry both visited you?”

“She needed a nudge in the right direction. He….well, even now I can’t quite explain his reasoning.”

“You know that they’re-.”

“Part of the group that voted to lie to Felicity about my survival, yes. They thought they were doing the right thing, well everyone except Barry and Luthor, although Barry’s in denial about that.”

“What do you mean?”

Oliver sighed. “You know what made me different from Barry? I stopped pretending a long time ago that I was a better person than I really was. Even when he makes selfish choices, he convinces himself that what he’s doing is heroic.”

“So, the problems with his speed, you’re teaching him a lesson.”

“Trying to.” He shrugged. “I hope failure doesn’t seriously dampen Ray’s spirits.”

“It won’t. It’s Ray, after all.” She said. “I told Felicity the truth. Even though I didn’t see her all the time, I couldn’t lie to her anymore.”

“I know. I know everything, after all. And thank you.”

“For coming clean?” She asked.

“That, and you’re the only paragon who’s wanted to talk to me just to talk, not to demand something from me.” He said. “It’s nice.”

“Woah, that sucks.”

“Captain Lance, we are about to land in Central City.” Gideon reported.

“Take care of yourself, Sara.” Oliver said before disappearing.

“You too.”

Ray was dropped off at Star Labs and the Waverider took off. Sara said they’d come back when he called them or if they had a situation. It took Cisco about half an hour to bring him up to speed on the situation with Barry and what explanations the team had already ruled out.

“Have you spoken to the other paragons about this?” He asked. “Seen if they’re experiencing similar issues?”

“No, why would-.”

“Well, if what Sara told is right, the paragons survived the destruction of one universe and creation of this one. Meaning the atoms making up Barry’s body are, quite literally, foreign to this reality. It may explain why he’s having issues.”

“Sara’s a paragon too. Has she been different? Experienced any problems?”

“No, but she doesn’t have superpowers.” Ray said. “At least call Kara and J’onn and ask if they’ve noticed anything weird lately. If they haven’t, we can rule out Barry’s body rejecting this reality.”

Barry left to give Kara a call. He didn’t tell her what was happening to him, but asked her if she’d noticed anything different about her powers lately. She said she hadn’t and neither had J’onn. The DEO got a call and she had to leave before she could ask him what this was about.

Over the next two days, Ray ran every test he could think of, tested every idea that came to mind. None of it worked. On the second day, Ray asked to see some of the data Cisco and Caitlin had been gathering for the last few weeks. Barry’s team didn’t just collect data for tests, they monitored everything from his blood pressure to his food intake daily, along with the speeds he’d been running at.

“He’s slowing down.” Ray said, after looking at the raw data as compared to the graph.

“What?” Cisco asked. The graph he was looking at had a flat line.

“You included too much unnecessary data and made the intervals too big when marking his speed. It looks like a plateau, but if you omit data that’s older than a year and decrease the size of the intervals,” he pressed a key and the graph changed to show a slow, but obvious, decline, “you start to see a trend.”

“We never tested him for dark matter.” Caitlin said.

“What?”

“In all the tests we ran, I never checked to see if there’s evidence of dark matter or the Speed Force in his system.” She said before rushing off.

Cisco was about to ask Ray if he had any more ideas, but Ray’s communicator started going haywire.

“Grab your suit. We got another encore wreaking havoc in old Hollywood.” Sara declared. “They really love that time, I guess.”

“I gotta go.” Ray told him. “Which is probably for the best, because I’m fresh out of ideas anyway. Maybe Felicity might be able to help?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Cisco said as he walked Ray to the roof.

The Legend was gone by the time Barry made it up to the roof and started asking questions about Ray’s conclusions.

“What did he mean I’m slowing down? I can’t be- how are we gonna fix this?” Barry asked.

“I don’t know.” His friend shrugged. “He had to leave, so I guess we need to call Felicity.”

“I don’t wanna- I’m sure she’s already dealing with-.”

“Did you two have a falling out at Oliver’s funeral or something? Because you seem really determined to avoid her.” Cisco asked. “And however strained your friendship might be right now, I’m sure she’ll at least try to help. Caitlin or Iris or I can call, if that helps.”

“No. No, I’ll make the call.” He said, resigned. “You’re right. I’m overthinking things.”

He gave Felicity a call and asked for her help. He hadn’t gone into specifics, only saying he’d been having a problem lately and thought she might be able to help. He asked if he could come to the cabin in the next few days, to explain, and she agreed.

“Well, this oughta be good.” Felicity said as she hung up the phone.

“What’s gonna be good?” William asked her.

“Barry’s coming for a visit. He won’t tell me why he’s coming, which means whatever he’s gonna ask me for is probably gonna be a pretty big favor.” She said. “I wonder what kinda huge mess he’s gotten himself into now.”

“I thought Dad- when he rebooted the universe, I thought he fixed everything.”

“He fixed some things. He got rid of Star City’s crime problem, but there was no way he could fix everything for everyone everywhere. Life’s just too complicated for that.” She said. “When he’s here, I want you to watch Mia, okay?” She didn’t want to say that she had a bad feeling about Barry being around Mia or William, but she definitely wasn’t sure them being in the same room was a good idea. Partially because she knew William bore some resentment towards Barry for Oliver dying in Crisis.

“Okay, but if you invent anything cool, you’ll show it to me later, right?”

“Right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts? Suggestions?


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry, finally, comes to Felicity for help with his problem.

After Felicity told William that Barry was coming over, he went into Mia’s nursery to play with her. She wanted to keep her kids away from Barry until she had a better feeling of what he wanted and why he was coming over. Felicity poured herself another cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen table. Knowing Barry, he’d run straight to Bloomfield to get what he wanted, so she didn’t expect that she’d need to wait long. As expected, less than an hour after getting his call, Barry was outside the cabin yelling.

“Felicity! It’s Barry. Can you turn off your security system?”

Rolling her eyes, she walked over to the control panel and turned off the meta-human dampener that prevented Barry from using his speed inside the cabin. She then opened the front door and let him in.

“When I said I’d help you, I didn’t think you’d actually rush over.” She said.

“Sorry, I just- this is kinda urgent and I need your help.” He said nervously. “Are you ready to go?”

“Go where?”

“Star Labs. You said you’d help me?” He said, sounding confused.

“You still haven’t told me what I’m supposed to be helping you with.” She pointed out. “And I said I’d help, but I didn’t say I’d come to Star Labs. I’m a single mom, Barry. I have a baby and a teenager, who recently lost their dad, that I have to take care of. I can’t just leave.”

“I- is there any way that you can have-?” In his panic about his problems, and his desire to find a solution, Barry had forgotten that Felicity might not be able to drop everything to help him. He didn’t want to sound insensitive, but it would be really helpful for him if she could find someone else to watch her kids.

“Ok, before you say anything else, you need to be honest with me.” She said, cutting him off. “What am I supposed to be helping you with? Because you didn’t tell me on the phone and you ignored me just now when I asked again.” She crossed her arms and waited for him to say something.

“It’s kinda….it’s complicated.”

“Nothing about our lives isn’t complicated. I think I’ll be able to follow whatever convoluted explanation you need to tell me.” She said. “The sooner you start talking, the sooner we can start finding a solution.”

“Okay.” He took a deep breath. “I’m losing my speed. I’m losing my speed and I don’t know why. I don’t know what caused it and nothing I tried seems to work and-.”

“What have you tried?” She asked.

“Everything.”

“Everything? So, you had Kara shoot you with her laser vision to see if that kickstarted something?”

“No, I- why would I do that?”

“You haven’t really tried everything, then.” She said, matter-of-factly. “What _did_ you try?”

“Training more intensely. I thought it was some kind of mental block at first, but it would’ve gone away by now.”

“Your solution to being unable to run as fast as you used to, was to just try to run faster? That doesn’t really- you know what? Fine. You know your powers better than me. What else?”

“Caitlin ran some tests and according to what she found, my cells are becoming unstable.” He said. “My cells are losing their dark matter components, so for all we know, I’m losing my connection to the Speed Force.”

“Call her, right now, and have her send everything she has to me so that I can look it over. Anything Cisco has too.” Felicity said. “Are you being cut off from the Speed Force? Is Wally having the same issue? Was there a catalyst, anything at all, that might’ve messed you up?”

“Not really.”

“That’s not a “no”.”

Barry ran a hand through his hair nervously before responding. “The last time I visited you, when I got back to Star Labs, I kinda got struck by lightning again when I was walking into the building.”

“And you think that’s got nothing to do with your problem?”

“I didn’t end up in a coma and I felt fine, so I don’t think that’s it.” He said.

“Well, I’ll look over what Caitlin and Cisco send me and get back to you if I figure anything out.” She said, standing up to show him out.

“That’s it then?”

“For now. Your last visit was over a month ago. You waited a month to ask for my help, but I could’ve been involved all along. I need to catch up on what’s already failed. I’m gonna need some time to look over everything unless you wanna reinvent the wheel.” She said. “I’m a computer genius, not a miracle worker.”

“Sorry, I don’t wanna seem pushy, but- if I don’t have my speed, I can’t be the Flash and if I can’t be the Flash, people might die.” He said.

Felicity didn’t respond to that, but waved goodbye half-heartedly to Barry once he was outside of the cabin. “Seriously? “If I’m not the Flash, people might die”? Someone’s gotten a big ego. He’s not the only meta, or the only speedster in the world.” She said to herself. “I need some mint chip after that.”

She grabbed some ice cream for herself before heading into Mia’s nursery to check on her and William. Her son told her that everything was fine and sounded surprised that Barry had already come and gone.

“I kinda….don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m surprised you were able to help him so much already.”

“Actually, I didn’t.” She admitted. “He told me what his problem was, and since he’s been dealing with it for a month, I need to catch up on everything he tried and failed with, so I told him to send me what he had and I’d get back to him.”

“Why did he wait for a month to ask for help? I thought he was supposed to be smart.”

“He- Barry knows that your dad is alive, but he doesn’t know that we know he’s alive. When he was here last time, he got close to letting it slip out, but didn’t. I think he was avoiding me because he doesn’t want me to know.”

“Why wouldn’t he want you to know about Dad?”

“No clue. At all.”

“Because he’s selfish.” A voice said from behind them. Felicity and Will turned around to see Oliver standing there, but he seemed to be very faint. If she believed in ghosts, she’d say he looked like a ghost from a movie. “I can’t visit physically so soon after my last visit, but- Barry doesn’t want you to know for selfish reasons. And, because I’m not selfish and don’t wanna waste your time, I’ll just tell you now that you’re not going to be able to help Barry recover his speed. He has to solve this one on his own.”

“You’re the reason he’s losing his speed?”

“It’s slightly more complicated than that, but yes. He needs to learn how to fix his own problems. And if he can’t, he loses his speed permanently and that means he can’t be the Flash anymore, I know Wally will step up and do an amazing job at it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments? Thoughts? Theories?

**Author's Note:**

> I take prompts if anyone wants to suggest them.


End file.
